Re: Is is possible to receive a cheep SubVendorID?

[Duane Clark <dclark@akamail.com>]

Michael wrote:
> I like the idea of "acquiring electronic access to the spec".
> I think our company would participate in "shared" Vendor ID group,
> if prize go down (under $200).

Clearly, in the ideal world, I would prefer an officially sanctioned
process. And maybe the PCI organization will see the handwriting on the
wall and decide to implement it on their own; but I am not holding my
breath until then.

I am not really concerned about having electronic access to the spec,
nor to the upcoming standards. There is enough inertia in the real world
that I can keep up with the current standard. Those companies that feel
they need to participate in setting standards and need the early lead
for competition, likely consider the membership fee to be insignificant.
So let them have those advantages, as long as the current spec remains
available.

Nor do I need a vendor ID all my own. I just want a unique SVID/SDID
combination, and cannot possibly justify the $2500 for the very small
number of boards I sell.

> I agree with Dave, that it is not easy to meet PCI spec (I believe,
> PCI went the wrong way with 3ns - 11 ns requirements, which is very difficult to
> meet with FPGAs - specially if it is old or for 66 MHz bus), 
> but it is possible.

With old parts, yes it is very difficult. That 66 MHZ remains difficult
even with new parts, but that will still take some time to really start
to catch on, and by the time it does, I am confident the new parts will
(relatively) easily meet it.

> More than that I tested some PCI designs from "valid"
> vendors, which did not met specifications.
> So "registration" does not protect the world from bad cards.

Same here, including some very large, well known vendors:-)

Duane